Investment Biker: On the Road with Jim Rogers

This is easily one of the top 10 best investing/finance books that I've ever read. I would rank it right up there with other classics such as Reminiscences of a Stock Operator, the Market Wizards series by Schwager, etc. Rogers gives you a historical, social, financial and political perspective on the world that you won't get elsewhere. He lives in the world of how things are, rather than how we hope they should be. He has the ability to step back from the crowd, analyze a situation, compare it to historical tendencies and make logical investment decisions. For example, when the Japanese market in the early 90's went from 40,000 to 30,000 he was asked if now is the time to buy. He saw on the front page of a newspaper that golf memberships were still selling for a million dollars. It didn't sound like much of a bottom to him (the market now is at 11,000). (Similar comparisons could be made about the US market now) I also really enjoyed the travel stories (border crossings, bribing guards, adventures in Africa, romance in the Sahara, the famous bird market in China). The book has everything. High finance, intrigue, romance, history, remote and distant lands, ancient cultures. Truely, a trip of a lifetime!

This is a travel book, not a financial book, period. It's 90% travel to 10% international finance/investment 101. And it's interesting because Jim gives us a glimpse of the current, recent and distant-pasts of these exotic and intriguing places he visits on his motorcycle journey which spanned 22 months. He didn't look up influential people in the places he visited. He writes about his conversations and experiences from people he "bumped into" during his trip. That's where one learns what a place is really like. He also "put his bike down" a couple of times, and spent a lot of time wrenching on it. He's no schlep. A success on Wall Street, he has a lot of knowledge about many different parts of the world in a historical, and "future possiblility" sense in the political, economic, and cultural context. Because his experiences on this journey, which comprise this book were penned in the early 1990s, the reader can: see if Jim was right about his take on the future of these nations. Overall he's on track. For example, the rise of Islamic extremism in poor Islamic countries that have been left behind in the technological advances and globalization of the planet. Religious resurgences in the former Soviet republics, the lack of common sense and wastefulness of the communistic system, and the then-and-now shrinking of our world via telecommunications, freer international trade, regulations, technology, and business/trade agreements. For the ten-percent of the book that discusses general international investment, for the layman he discusses U.S. Gold and monetary policy, that are short and easy to read, as well as basic Monetary policy and Macro-economic functions. How does someone buy and sell currency? What do folks look for when the invest in a nation? Why do some countries have currency and foreign exchange controls? And, what are the positives and negatives of these monetary policies? One historical insight Jim noted on his long trek across Russia and the former Soviet republics on his bike is that communism and Stalin in the Soviet Union were greatly helped by the invasion of Germany in WWII. Hypothetical of course, but what if Germany hadn't attacked the USSR which led to the deaths of 1/6th of the Soviet population? The invasion, loss of life, hardship and subsequent "heroic" victory helped the USSR substantially. In addition to defeating the Germans, the Soviet's victory meant the subjugation of Eastern Europe, which enabled it to extract its resources and industries which the USSR didn't immenselyviously this helped Stalin tyrannical. How long would Stalin's tyannical murder spree, with his own people starving in the 1920s, have lasted with out it? His forever-lasting economic policies were not sound, as we found out in 1991. With the subsequent victory in '45, he was a "hero." The glue that held this multi-ethnic and geographically gargantuan empire together until is collapse in 1991.Many of his insights about w

What made this book appealing to me is Roger's historical, political, social, and financial take on every country he went through. Like it or not, assets, such as a cow, translate into money and the money then translates into another cow. If readers don't understand the significance of money, credit, banking and the 20th century debate between Schumpeter and Keynes, they aren't going to get as much from this book. Another thing about Rogers is that he's a trader who in the short term can sound like an alarmist. He has a marvelously comprehensive world view, known as a top down model in the business of investing, and he isn't afraid to risk his capital and then turn on a dime. He'll reverse his investment from short to long in a heartbeat and usually win. A microscopic number of people are able to do this successfully. I repeat, he is not a buy and hold long term investor. He's highly energetic and capable of putting in a prodigious amount of time researching questions in order to improve his model of assumptions which dictate his investment expectations. While he waxes eloquently on the romantic aura of spending the night in the Sahara and on the colors of the light show in Siberia in contrast with the technicolor collage of the homes and gardens there, he was clearly more interested in buying low and selling high. Notice how he went for the beer and banking stocks; also the local power company provided if there wasn't excessive government regulation.As for Tabitha and the surrounding scenery Jimmy was doin' the best with what he's got. Like many men he lacks a full understanding of women, he just isn't programmed that way. The same can be said about women re men, but that's another subject. Sending her to mechanic's scholl was original thinking. The boy is on the cutting edge. The border crossing problems he describes are identical to those recounted by Keith Richburg, a black liberal American who worked on the Nairobi desk for the Washington Post, and wrote "Out of America", a tale about his stint in the heart of darkness.A great book. My German girlfriend, who travels on the cheap to out of the way places, loved this book. My hats off to Rogers for having the courage to do it, and to include his girlfriend.

be advised that "...on the road with JR" and "...around the world with JR" are in fact the SAME book. (hardcover / paperback)

Jim Rogers has done it all and continues marching with a common sense approach. I was in my senior year when a professor required this for reading. Needless to say, Ive read it twice since then. Rogers started the Quantum Fund with George Soros, provides commentary for CNBC and is traveling the world again. In this book he sheds light on the then possible and eventual economic collapse of Asia. This highly reccomended for anyone investing in U.S. or abroad. I place this book next to text by Peter Lynch and Ben Graham. Happy investing.